Islam in Kazakhstan in the modern period

06 September 2013

1636

1

Recently, the religious sphere of our
society has changed dramatically. The search for the "true Islam" led to traditional
Islam. Apparently, it is not only Muslim religion revived but
Muslim cultural tradition, which is associated with the national tradition in the minds of the people.

Today the following types of believers can
be identified:

a) the older generation, who
took on religious ideas and practice as children, sincerely regard themselves
as Muslims and follow Muslim rituals;

b) elderly and middle-aged
people, and a few young ones as well, who do not strictly follow religious
rules and whose ideas of religion are typically vague and fragmentary.

c) Recently there has been an
increase in number of young people showing an interest in Islamic doctrine and
engaging in systematic religious education and practice. This group is getting
numerous.

Despite the formal
educational activities of the official
mosque, calling for the purification
of Islam from foreign elements, a wide range
of ideas and customs which can be traced back to pre-Islamic traditions, have
been retained in private sphere, in family life of the Kazakhs. Many of
them as well as Muslim rituals,
survived the period of "rebirth",
such ritual as "libation fuel to
the fire" («откамайкыю»), etc. These ideas and customs have been
preserved in various areas of religious life: the veneration of saints, various
groups of clergy (for example, a duana), family relationships, and the rites
and customs associated with the life-cycle of the family (marriage, birth,
circumcision and death).

The cult of ancestors, along with the
cult of other saints, promotes the dissemination of knowledge about Islamic
beliefs and its practice among the Kazakhs. It is quite different from recent
years. Official representatives of the Islamic cult use religious tradition of
the veneration of saints to fight the pre-Islamic relics of views and adoption
of the "pure Islam" in the minds of the pilgrims. The attempts of the
preachers of the "true" Islam to introduce among the Muslims of
Kazakhstan, the generation of which brought up on local customs for centuries,
and other ideological forms of Islam, existing in other historical
circumstances, and other historical and cultural regions, caused a
confrontation in the society. These processes have played a definite role in
the legalization of Sufism in Kazakhstan, which to some extent, was a response
to the attempts to introduce the "true Islam" in Kazakhstan by
foreign preachers. The same factors can also explain the broad dissemination of
the ideas of Tengrianism among Kazakhs. The dissemination of scientific knowledge
about Islam and the peculiarities of its existence among different nations can
be the most effective ideological arguments against the ideas of radical Islam
and the preachers of "purity" of Islam under present conditions.

It is important to educate today’s society
about the original forms of Islam and history of Islam in Kazakhstan,
which could promote religious tolerance
in our country and improving mutual understanding between Muslims of the
post-Soviet countries (especially Kazakhstan) and those of the Arab-Muslim
world and non-Muslim peoples as well.

The revival of Islam in Kazakhstan has resulted in a
corresponding resurgence in many aspects of humanitarian culture, including
ethic identity, moral standards and religious tolerance (I think it’s just a
legalization of Islam apart from the soviet period). It looks paradoxically
that along with Islam we can see the reviving of Sufism and Tengrianstvo (just
as manifestations of unacceptance of “foreign” Islam), Cult of Heaven (kaz.
Taniri), the rite “otka mai kyyu” (a rite to get a protection of a husband’s
ancestors), purifing a house, a cradle and etc. by fire.

Мustafina R.М.

Use of materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires written or oral permission from the Board of Editors or the author. Hyperlink to National Digital History portal is necessary. All rights reserved by the Law RK “On author’s rights and related rights”. To request authorization email to kaz.ehistory@gmail.com or call to (7172) 79 82 06 (ext.111)